/**
 * Copyright (c) 2007-2008 Nearchos Paspallis
 *
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 *
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 *
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 *
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 * THE SOFTWARE.
 */

/**
 * AspectSense
 *
 * Middleware for annotation-based, context-aware and adaptive services for
 * mobile and ubiquitous computing
 *
 * This project is an open-source effort, initiated by Nearchos Paspallis as
 * part of his PhD work at the University of Cyprus (http://www.ucy.ac.cy).
 *
 * More information about the project is available at "http://aspectsense.org".
 */

package org.aspectsense.annotations;

import java.lang.annotation.Retention;
import java.lang.annotation.RetentionPolicy;
import java.lang.annotation.Target;
import java.lang.annotation.ElementType;

/**
 * Basic annotation abstracting a <i>Component</i>. Every class intending to
 * implement a component must provide this annotation. Additionally, it must
 * implement the corresponding {@link org.aspectsense.framework.Component}
 * interface.
 *
 * <p/>
 * Date: Jul 13, 2007<br/>
 * Time: 9:38:59 AM
 * </p>
 *
 * @author Nearchos Paspallis [nearchos@cs.ucy.ac.cy]
 */
@Retention(RetentionPolicy.RUNTIME)
@Target(ElementType.TYPE)
public @interface Component
{
    /**
     * The ID to be used when displaying the component.
     *
     * @return a String identifying this
     *      {@link org.aspectsense.framework.Component} when displayed
     * @see org.aspectsense.framework.Component
     */
    String displayID();

    /**
     * Some text describing the specific component type; not required.
     *
     * @return a String describing this
     *      {@link org.aspectsense.framework.Component}
     * @see org.aspectsense.framework.Component
     */
    String description() default "Undescribed component type";
}